Forgetting Himself
by HorcruxCookies
Summary: The Doctor and his companion Luna are being chased across the universe by something that is able to follow them anywhere in time and space, and it won't stop until it gets the Doctor. But as always, the Doctor has a plan.
1. Silly, Stupid Dreams

She held her breath as they ran for the blue box sitting on the lonely street corner. She could hear them chasing her and her friend, a man with whom she traveled through all of time and space. But now they were stuck, pursued by a thing that could track them anywhere in the universe, something they couldn't fight, something out for the soul of her friend, the last of the Timelords.

At last The Doctor and Luna reached the TARDIS, sickly orange lasers firing after them as they shut the door.

"Who are they? Why do they want you?" Luna cried, watching the Doctor circle the control panel as he pressed buttons and pulled levers.

"I don't know, we'll have to hide for a good bit of time," he replied, pulling one last lever as the TARDIS began to take off,"I've only done this once before, but I'm afraid I'll have to do it again."

"What?" questioned Luna, locking eyes with the Doctor, pleading that he didn't do anything dangerous.

"I-,"

John shot up, surprised at the clarity of his dream, wondering what that strange man was going to say. "It was just another silly dream about that strange man," he murmured to himself, "I'll probably dream about it again tomorrow night."

The day went on as normal for John Smith. He taught young men about American history at a sophisticated college not too far from the heart of Manhattan. He had a good life, and many of his students would often come back and visit him after they graduated.

"Luna," Mr. Smith called out as he passed Luna Caecilius, a young woman helping out the school's staff for extra money.

"Yes sir" she replied, looking up from her journal.

"Would mind helping me sort through some papers?"

"Of course, sir," Luna followed him into his office.

"I had another one of those dreams last night, and just like each other one, you are there too."

"Strange sir. You don't believe that those silly dreams of yours are true?"

"Nah. It's just weird how clear they are, almost like a memory," John paused, then let out a laugh, "but that would be insane, traveling through time in a magic blue box. And traveling with you."

Luna let out a laugh, hiding her pain, "Yea, I wouldn't be a good person to travel with, would I?"

"Who knows, it's just a silly, stupid, story," he got up and checked the time on his pocket watch, "well I better get going, and you should to Luna."

"I probably should, but first, what is today's date?"

"April 2, 1938. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, nothing, an old friend will be visiting soon." she put on her coat and began walking to her apartment, not too far from the abandoned Winter Quay apartment building. She opened the door to her small apartment. There was no lighting, no heat, no anything, which was why her rent was so cheap, but that was ok. The only thing in her apartment was a large blue police box, the TARDIS, the Doctor's key to all his travels across the universe. He didn't remember any of those adventures as anything more than a crazy dream that would never be real. He even laughed at the idea of traveling through time and space with her. She closed the door behind her, holding back tears.

She looked at the TARDIS and pulled out her key, the key the Doctor gave her when they first met. She unlocked the TARDIS and stepped inside, happy to get out of the cold. She ran her hands over the control panels, smiling as she remembered how in his random button-pushing and lever-pulling that he got the TARDIS to take them across the universe. That wouldn't happen now. Not until the threat was gone. Thinking about her last days with the Doctor, she let herself sink into her memories.

She held her breath as they ran for the blue box sitting on the lonely street corner. She could hear them chasing her and her friend, a man with whom she traveled through all of time and space. But now they were stuck, pursued by a thing that could track them anywhere in the universe, something they couldn't fight, something out for the soul of her friend, the last of the Timelords.

At last The Doctor and Luna reached the TARDIS, sickly orange lasers firing after them as they shut the door.

"Who are they? Why do they want you?" Luna cried, watching the Doctor circle the control panel as he pressed buttons and pulled levers.

"I don't know, we'll have to hide for a good bit of time," he replied, pulling one last lever as the TARDIS began to take off,"I've only done this once before, but I'm afraid I'll have to do it again."

"What?" questioned Luna, locking eyes with the Doctor, pleading that he didn't do anything dangerous.

"I have got to turn myself into a human, if I do, whatever is looking for me won't be able to find me." he pressed a button and a piece of machinery dropped down from somewhere in the ceiling of the TARDIS.

"What is that?" Luna replied, eyes wide in shock as she stared at the strange contraption.

"Chameleon Arch," the Doctor replied, pulling is the rest of the way down, then retrieving a small locket from a compartment in the control panel, "this will change me into a human and put my Timelord conscious in this." he handed the locket to Luna, "I trust you to keep it safe, and to never open it, unless absolutely necessary."

Luna nodded, taking the small silver locket in her hand. She handed it back to the Doctor as he prepared to start his conversion to human. "Will it hurt?"

"Greatly. Think about it, I'm changing my entire genetic code, do you think that's going to be quick and easy?" he paused for a second to breath. "Just whatever you do, do not stop the process!"

She snapped back into reality, realizing that she fallen asleep while dreaming of her last moments with his Timelord conscious. She got up and got ready for another day at her job.


	2. Flashbacks

John woke up after another one of his crazy dreams about the madman in the blue box. This time Luna wasn't in the dream, but three other people called Amy Pond, Rory Williams, and River Song. The seemed to know the Doctor very well, as when Rory had disappeared, Amy had looked to the Doctor for help, but even he didn't know what needed to be done. The dream ended like all the others, in a cliffhanger, leaving him wondering what would happen next, even though he knew he would never get the answer. He would tell Luna of these dreams, asking her if it made any more sense to her than they did to him. Her expressions said she had heard the stories before, but when he asked if they made any sense to her, her expression went blank and she would say, "No."

He grabbed his journal and began writing about his dream. He did this because he usually forgot about the dreams after a few days. Plus he wanted to remember where the dream took place: April 3. 1938, in the Winter Quay apartment building in New York City. Then he realized, today was April 3, 1938. Was is possible that this dream was true? He doubted it was, but tonight he could easily find out.

After recording the dream in his journal, he got dressed and proceeded to the wouldn't dare tell Luna about the dream, whenever he brought up one of his dreams, she would get a strange look on her face. This was the first to not have her or the brunette Clara in it, after a year of dreams with either one of them, he met these three new people. And monsters like he had never dreamed about. Monsters that looked like stone angels, but could move when no one was looking. He found the idea of them strange and quite scary, but if his dream was real, he would find out tonight at the Winter Quay apartment building.

He got up and got dressed and proceeded to the school, everything ready for another day of teaching. When he arrived there, he found Luna there already straightening the desks and reorganizing the books.

"You feeling alright Luna?" he asked, questioning her sudden odd behavior, "you're not one to get here on time, much less early."

"I'm fine sir," she replied, placing the last of the books on the shelf, "couldn't get to sleep after a dream woke me, decided I might as well get to work instead of sitting around doing nothing."

"Oh, okay. What was your dream about?"

"I can't really remember, but it gave me fright. What about you? Any interesting dreams last night?"

"Luna, that is a personal question. Stick to your job please."

Luna rolled her eyes and finished what she was doing, then headed down to the main office. There she would her co-worker Joseph Graner filing papers into two different boxes for the staff. Like Luna, he worked there because it was either this or factory work. She smiled and waved at him, and he smiled back. Something about him made her head spin whenever she saw him, but not in a bad way. On one level, you could say she deeply cared for him, maybe even fancied him. But she couldn't deal with emotions like love at a time like this, she had to keep the Doctor save, even if he treated her like crap. She knew her Doctor was not too far away, trusting her to

keep him safe and hidden until the danger had passed, but how long could she take this? It had already been a year, and he is already starting to resent her. He found her strange, weird, lazy, and down-right rude. That is all because she knows him as more than Professor Smith, but as the Doctor, one of her closest friends in the universe, the man who she nearly killed when she first met him. Oh she missed that mad man.

After hours of work, Joseph turned to Luna. "Mind joining me after work on a stroll through the park?" he asked, smiling that sweet, innocent smile.

She didn't deserve a guy like him, she had gone through too much. "Sure," she said, heading to lunch.

She ate alone in the cafe, constantly looking up at Mr. Smith and Mrs. Arlen. There was something odd going on between them, but Luna couldn't figure out what. Whatever the conversation was, they seemed to be having a good time. She stared back down at her lunch, hoping he wouldn't fall for her. That was the last thing she needed, the Doctor falling for a human and refusing to turn back. She pushed the idea from her mind, she couldn't afford to think like that, she had to keep him safe. She looked back up at them, finding them to be sharing a laugh, probably about something charming, yet funny that the Doctor said. Something they had once done together. She felt herself begin slipping away into her memories, but instead to trying to stop it, she let herself become lost in her thoughts.

"The blue buttons! Press the blue buttons!" the Doctor cried across the TARDIS, checking a screen for signals of objects around them.

"Why do I have to?" she yelled back, searching the chaotic control panel for blue buttons, and once she found them, she pressed them. As she did, she heard the TARIDS making the familiar landing noise, "oh that's way? we can't land if someone doesn't press them."

"Yup!" he spun the screen around to her, "Check out where we are."

She looked at the screen and awe filled her mind. "That's the. It's the. Oh my god I can't believe we're." she was so amazed by the beauty she couldn't even finish her sentence. She rushed to the doors and opened them, revealing the Parthenon. THE Parthenon, in it's golden age, not in ruins, possibly with Athenas Parthenos still inside. She run back over to the Doctor and gave him a hug, tears of joy running down her cheeks. "Thank you, it's beautiful!"

He pulled away from the hug and smiled down her. "Well, what are you waiting for? Let's go check it out!"

Reality grabbed onto her like someone being woke with cold water. Hard and sudden. She wished she go back to those moments where everything was ok, when he remembered her as more than an assistant. She thought about that trip, the last trip before the Family of Blood had escaped their prisons and set out in search of the Doctor. They had been enjoying a pleasant trip to the Parthenon, and next thing they knew, they were being chased across the universe by something that could follow them everywhere they went. He told her there was no way to escape, no way but for him to change into a human and hide until they died. She would have to protect him until them, both his human form, and Timelord form, hidden safely in a fob watch, from the Family. She knew what they would do if they found him, but at times it took everything in her not to open the watch and bring him back. She wanted him back so much that it would hurt, but she knew better that to let her wants to put him in danger. She knew how to control her emotions.

John sat next to English teacher Mrs. Arlen at the table. Something about her was just so different than most other women he had met. She was strong, but knew how to act like a lady, unlike his assistant Luna, who always spoke out of turn and asked inappropriate questions. Mrs. Arlen, or Jenna as she wanted him to call her, was elegant like a Victorian governess, holding power, respect, while looking beautiful and holding her tongue at all the right times. Younger women just didn't know how to behave after the whole "women's rights" fiasco. They might have equal rights, but they need to learn respect.

He leaned over to Jenna and told her this, ending with both of them laughing. "I guess there is a reason they now refer to middle-aged girls as 'girls' instead of 'young ladies.' They don't make women like they used to." she stated.

"Yes you're quite right," he responded, "they have earned their rights, but they have forgotten respect."

"Rights are only a problem when the women change because of them. Truthfully, I wouldn't mind not voting. Leave the madness called politics to the men. I'll actually be concerned when there is a women running for office."

"Like you?"

"Me? No, I couldn't"

"I would vote for you."

Jenna smiled at this comment. "And I would vote for you," she added, "even if you didn't know how to run a country, you could at least charm them all into thinking you could."

John looked down and laughed. No one had ever complimented him like that in, well, a very long time. He tried to remember the last time, he almost could remember it. A blonde girl had him pinned down with a knife at his throat, but she didn't attack, instead she got up off him, laughing at whatever he said, and responding, "You mister, certainly know how to charm a girl," as she proceeded to help him off the ground. He could barely make out the image of the girl, blonde hair, silvery-blue eyes, and a face that looked innocent one minute, and fierce the next. By the time he looked back up at Jenna, the memory faded back into nothing, like it had never happened.

Once he had finished his meal, he got up and said goodbye to Jenna, then went back up to his office to get ready for the last half of the day. Walking past one of the closets, he heard sulking, and it sounded like a girl. He didn't open the door, but carefully pressed his ear to the door to hear what was going on.

Luna sat in the floor of a closet not to far from Mr. Smith's classroom. She rubbed tears from her eyes as she cried over the memories. It was just too much for her to take, she needed him, nothing could stop the pain of seeing him as Mr. Smith instead of the Doctor, last of the Timelords.

"Why did you have to go and change?" she said aloud, as if he were there and could actually hear her, but she knew that wouldn't happen, her Doctor was safely tucked away in a fob watch, out of sight, out of mind. "I know you had to, but we could run, you enjoyed it. All the running we did. Why fight when you can run across the universe, literally run away from time itself. But you had to, you couldn't run from this one thing. The one thing able to follow us through all of time and space. The one thing we couldn't run from." she sighed and flipped her TARDIS key over in her hand, "I remember the day you gave me this key, August 13, 2022. I was in another universe, I was mortal, no scars, no powers, just normal, mortal, Luna. But I remembered everything. You said that there must be something extremely different about me, something so strong that not even a complete change of self could make me forget who I am. I miss those times, when you would call me crazy, strange, even weird. I miss you so much, and I want you back, but I'll keep my promise, I always do, even if it means I have to suffer the temporary pain of losing you." she wiped the remaining tears from her eyes. and just sat there on the floor.

John heard all of this, but couldn't tell who it was speaking through the door. Who was this girl? What did she mean by 'run across the universe'? He backed away from the door and went to his classroom. Who ever she was, he didn't want to meet her.

Luna cleaned away her tears, and even used her powers to take away the red-puffiness her eyes became after crying. She now looked like her normal calm, cool, and collected self. She walked out of the closet then made her way to Mr. Smith's classroom.

"Afternoon Mr. Smith," she said as she entered, as she normally did each day after lunch.

"Afternoon Luna," he blankly replied, not even lifting his eyes from his stack of papers, "mind putting these papers in my folder of 'Past Lesson Plans'?"

"No problem sir," she took the papers, doing as he told her, letting herself lose focus as the afternoon continued.


	3. Winter Quay

The work day was finally over and Luna couldn't wait to get out of the building and to the park with Joseph. Was it a date? Or just two friends enjoying nature together? It didn't matter, nothing longterm would start. Even if Joseph wanted to be something more than friends, she didn't have that kind of time. She literally didn't even belong in this time.

"Ready to go?" Joseph asked her, taking her coat off the rack and handing it to her, "Don't want to freeze, I don't want to have to carry a Luna-sicle halfway across Manhattan."

She couldn't help but giggle at this as she took her coat and put it on. "Says the boy who can barely carry the boxes of paper for the typewriters and has to ask me for help. I doubt you could even carry me."

They walked out the doors, and once they were a good deal away from the school, Joseph swept her off her feet. "And you were saying?" he snickered as he gently set her setting her back down.

The rest of the afternoon went like this, talking, making each other laugh, and just doing silly childish things together. It wasn't until she saw Rory Williams walk across one of the alleys that she realized she had to get going.

"I had a wonderful time, but I really need to get home," she told Joseph before running off in the direction of the Winter Quay.

The icy air stung at her cheeks as she ran to the Quay. Getting there wasn't hard, but getting there at the right time was. She knew what the key sign was that she could follow, and she knew that she could follow no sooner than when she saw the sign. She walked through the street, trying to keep at a fast pace without drawing attention, last she needed was more attention at the Winter Quay than there already was. As she walked along, she nearly stepped on Mr. Smith's foot, almost causing them both to fall onto the sidewalk. "Sorry sir," she said, not looking up to see who it was, but continuing to walk along.

"Luna?" Mr. Smith said, "is that you?"

She turned around to face the man. It was Mr. Smith, the last person she wanted to see right now. "Evening sir, what are you doing down this way?"

"Walking, enjoying the clear night," he replied, gesturing up to sky, "what about you?"

"Returning home."

"Oh, isn't it a little late to just now be getting home?"

"I was out. Had errands to run."

"Makes since," he shrugged, "Mind if I walk you home?'

Luna didn't want to see rude, but she didn't know if she could afford to stop by her apartment before going to the Quay. She checked her watch, then replied, "Of course."

John caught up with Luna and began walking along with her. "So where do you live?"

"Oh not too far from here," she replied, "know where the Winter Quay apartment building is?"

John nodded. Was it possible she lived there? Was it like in his dream, or was that just his imagination?

"I live in the building across the street. Not many people want to live near the Quay so rent is fairly cheap. Some people say Winter Quay is haunted, I say it's a bunch of stories to keep people out of that run-down old building."

John nodded. So there was something up with that place, and now he had a reason to check it out.

They reached Luna's apartment after a few more minutes of walking. "Good evening Luna, I'll see you tomorrow."

Luna nodded in response, then closed the door behind her as she entered. She then proceeded to change into a different set of clothes, incase John was lingering around. She put on a lime green sweater, gray skinny jeans, her old brown boots, and finally her favorite light-brown trenchcoat. Her friend April had called it her 'investigating outfit' because it made her look so serious. It did, that was the point. She even put on her old glasses instead of the ones she had for this time. She felt like herself again. Not Luna Caecilius, assistant of Mr. Smith, but Luna Vain, companion of the Doctor, daughter of Apollo, head of Torchwood one. She felt fierce, strong, and like she could stop a Dalek with the swing of her sword. She felt like herself, and man it felt good.

She grabbed a newspaper from off her bedside table and took it with and set off across the street to the Quay. She sat in front of the building, reading the newspaper as a cover as she watched for the Doctor, Amy, and River to come by in search of Rory. Then she saw him, right across the street, about to cross, John Smith. Gods! She knew he would probably come, all his dreams, they were going in reverse. That meant it was his first time remembering the Ponds. He probably realized the date was the same, and had to see if it was the same. "Let me do as I do, don't try and interfere" the Doctor told her. She knew what to do, if she ever came into contact with the Doctor out of line, to use a fake name, and she knew just the name: Jess.

John walked across the street to the Winter Quay and sat down on a bench next to a women in strange dress. She was wearing gray pants, and startling green shirt and a long brown coat. He didn't bother saying hello, but just sat there, waiting for the man to run by like he did in the dream. Moments later the women sitting next to him got up and left and headed over to the Quay. She didn't seem to be going there without reason, but he knew not to follow, he had to wait for the man in his dream to walk by. If he didn't, he would miss his chance to see the proof that his dreams were real, or at least this one.

Luna entered the building, knowing that doing so could possibly get her killed. But that didn't matter as much as keeping the Doctor, sorry, John Smith away from this building, who knows what would happen if he were to find out what truly happened here. She waited among the shadows for the past Doctor, River, and Amy to enter in pursuit of Rory, knowing that her Doctor would they entered, she watched for John to follow not too far behind him. Once he came, Luna snuck up behind him, covered his mouth with one hand, his eyes with the other and knocked his feet out from under him, making any attempts to run away even harder. She pulled Mr. Smith out of the lobby and into the small office, out of sight of the angels.

John had not expected to be dragged away as he tried to follow the man from his dream, but he was, and by the same women he had seen on the bench earlier. Who was she? What did she want from him?

As the lady removed her hand from his mouth, he blurted, "Who the bloody hell are you and why did you do that?"

"That doesn't matter." she responded.

"Well it matters when I file a police report!"

"How would you do that? File a report about a place you shouldn't have gone anywhere near, against a person who doesn't exist? Yea, that will work."

"What do you -?"

"You shouldn't be here Mr. Smith."

"How do you -?"

"Long story, no time for telling. You came here because of a dream, correct?"

"Yes, but-."

"You shouldn't have, had you actually came into contact with that man, or even been seen by any of the people up there, who knows what would have happened."

"What are you talking about? And who are you anyways"

"Who I am doesn't concern you, and I'm talking about tearing about the fabric of time and space. Now you better get home."

"I am not leaving until I find out what is going on!" he exclaimed loudly, standing up to face this woman. He was taller than her, but it didn't seem to make a difference, she still seemed to look down on him.

"If you won't leave, you'll stay here well I go up there," she snapped back.

"What do you mean? You can't make me stay!" then he felt her fist make contact with his cheek, sending him into unconsciousness, waking what felt like hours later, his hand cuffed to a pole in the office.

Luna hated hurting him, but she had to. It was the only way to keep him out of the way. Who knew what would happen had he gone up and seen what was going on? She pushed that thought out of her mind and cuffed one of his wrists to the nearest sturdy object she could find, couldn't risk him coming up and finding out the truth of this night.

"I'm so sorry," she said, then ran to the stairs and up to the roof. There she found weeping angels, all facing in the direction of 4 figures off near the edge of the building. She edged closer, keeping herself out of sight, and she finally could make out the people. She saw Rory standing on the ledge, Amy pleading for him to come down, the Doctor not to far begging that they both come back to the TARDIS with him and River. Everything was unfolding, right here in front of her eyes. Rory took Amy's hand and placed it upon his chest, asking her to push and create a paradox, but she refused. Instead, she climbed up next him, embracing him as they both prepared to let themselves fall. Luna's eyes shifted over to the statues. A few had moved, but one hadn't, the largest angel, the Statue of Liberty, and that was only because River was behind the Doctor, eyes locked on it. She looked back at Amy and Rory, just in time to see them fall. Her heart wanted her to scream NO at the top of her lungs, but her brain knew better. She heard the awful sound of their bodies hitting the ground, then within a fraction of a second, everything having to do with the angels were gone. The Doctor, and River were gone, and she looked down at her clothes, noticing that they had returned to her 1930s disguise. She went back downstairs, hoping John was still unconscious, but he wasn't

"What the hell are you doing here?" he demanded, trying to sit up despite his cuffed hand.

"What do you mean?" she replied, trying to seem the slightest bit innocent.

It took him a moment to make the connection, but John realized that Luna was the man who had knocked him out. "Who would you do this Luna? And don't say you have know idea what I'm talking about, because you do, and I know it."

Her throat tightened, fearing the things he would and could do if she left him out. She replied is a surprising calm voice, "I had my reasons, and they aren't to be known by you."

"I'm the reason you have the job you have, and you punch me in the face then handcuff me to a pole?"

"I have my reasons. If you trusted me, you wouldn't need any more information."

"Well, Luna, I don't trust you. Never have, never will. You're shady, irresponsible, unreliable, and you always lie about what you do. Mrs. Arlen was right, you are nothing but trouble."

"You've been listening to her? I've known you for who knows how long, and you trust her more?"

"You cause to much trouble Luna, there is no way you can be trusted."

"Fine," Luna tried to keep the sound of heartbreak out her voice, "then I guess you'll be going." She took out a key and unlocked the handcuffs around his wrist.

She turned to the door and walked out, not looking back, trying her best not to think about what he would say when she returned to work the coming Monday. He would most likely fire her, then go tell Mrs. Arlen about the horrible things she did this evening. She hated the thought of him wrapping himself around that silly mortal. She knew nothing about him, she didn't know who he was, just some character he had made for this event. As entering her apartment, she unlocked the door to the unused bedroom, where the TARDIS stood, tall and proud, but somewhat sad, as if missing the man who doesn't even remember her. Just like Luna. She entered the TARDIS, running her hands over the control panel, wishing for her Doctor to be back, swinging her off on crazy little adventures. She walked over to the video screen, finding the on switch and allowing it to play through the directions the Doctor left for her.

The screen flickered to life, showing the Doctor, who, of course, adjusted his scarlet bowtie before he even said a word.

"Luna," he stated, "I'm so sorry I have to do this, but there is no other option. I'll be human for a while, and I don't know how long it will be. I'm trusting you to keep me safe, and to watch out for the Family. I'll also need you to do the following: One. If there is any chance that the TARDIS lands me somewhere in which I could cross on my own timeline, don't allow it to happen. Last thing we need is a paradox. Two. Don't allow me to do something stupid that results in my own death, which means, make sure I don't get involved in any fights, battles, or wars. Three. Make sure I don't leave you behind, and if I try to, just follow. I might not understand and get annoyed, but its best that you be there. Five. Wait no, four. Make sure I take care of myself. I highly doubt you'll have a problem with this, but still, we never know. Five. Make sure I don't forget about you. I don't know how John will be, but I want you to make sure that I, um he doesn't stop trusting you. Si-"

She stopped the video. He didn't trust her anymore, and probably hadn't for a while. Tears welled up in her eyes as she tried to blink back the sadness. "I did as you said!" she cried at the screen, "I did everything you said, but now you don't even trust me. Now you won't even look at me without being disgusted. But I did as you said. Every. Little. Thing!" She collapsed onto a nearby chair, letting the floodgates open, pouring out all her sorrow through her tears.

After what felt like hours of crying, she left the TARDIS and went make into the main room of her apartment, locking the door of the unused bedroom behind her, then going to sleep on the bed sitting in the middle of her main room.


End file.
